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Charleston County Schools Win Effort to Kill Tax Measure

Posted on: Friday, 16 June 2006, 21:00 CDT

By Diette Courrégé, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Jun. 16--Charleston County school officials succeeded in stopping a bill that would have limited the school board's ability to raise taxes.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, heard from Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, board Chairwoman Nancy Cook and board member Hillery Douglas about Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell's bill that would have required a majority on County Council to approve the school board's budget.

The bill also would have required the board to get approval from County Council to raise the tax rate on its general operating budget to more than 90 mills. The tax rate for the school district's budget this year is 91.1 mills.

Ford said he was told the bill would stop the building of a new Sanders-Clyde Elementary School even though a new elementary school is needed in the fast-growing community.

Goodloe-Johnson said while she was concerned about the content of the bill, she wanted it off the table because of Sanders-Clyde and 12 other projects.

School district Chief Financial Officer Don Kennedy said language in the bill needed clarification before bonds could be sold for a new Sanders-Clyde and other construction projects.

School officials had to disclose in bond sale documents any legislation that would affect its finances, and they needed more information about the intent of the bill, he said.

Still, the bill only delayed the new schools from being built, he said.

Ford talked to McConnell, who said he would not oppose a motion to send the bill to the Charleston delegation's calendar, effectively killing it.

Ford made the motion, and no one fought it.

The issue of limiting the school board's fiscal autonomy likely will come up again next year, and if it does Ford said he would fight to allow the district to raise taxes without going through county council.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Post and Courier

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